Bronze award from the Guild of Fine Foods Great Taste Awards

Apley smoked back bacon – Great Taste winner 1-star award from the Guild of Fine Foods

Last week, we were delighted when we found out that we had been awarded a bronze award for our Apley smoked back bacon in the Guild of Fine Foods Great Taste Awards. Hoorah for the Apley butchers! Great Taste, the world’s most coveted blind-tasted food awards, celebrates the very best in food & drink.

Judged by over 500 of the most demanding palates, belonging to food critics, chefs, cooks, restaurateurs & producers as well as a whole host of food writers & journalists, Great Taste is widely acknowledged as the most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan & speciality food producers like Apley Farm Shop. As well as a badge of honour, the unmistakable black & gold Great Taste label is a signpost to delicious, tasty products, which has been discovered through hours & hours of blind-tasting by hundreds of judges.

Recognised as a stamp of excellence among consumers & retailers alike, Great Taste values taste above all else, with no regard for branding & packaging. Whether it is bread, honey, salami or cereal being judged, all products are removed from their wrapper, jar, box or bottle before being tasted. The judges then savour, confer & re-taste to decide which products are worthy of a 1-, 2- or 3-star award.

There were 10,000 Great Taste entries this year & of those products, 141 have been awarded a 3-star, 878 received a 2-star and 2,520 were awarded a 1-star accolade. The panel of judges included TV chef & author, Valentine Warner; MasterChef judge & restaurant critic, Charles Campion; fifth generation baker, Tom Herbert from Hobbs House Bakery; & Great British Bake Off winner, Frances Quinn; food buyers from Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, Harvey Nichols & Waitrose. Chefs included James Golding, chef director of THE PIG Hotels & Kevin Gratton, chef director of HIX Restaurants.

Photographed here are a couple of other products to look out for on the Apley Butchers’ counter – this handmade pork terrine, Oxtail & Staffordshire gammon.